E-commerce applications have advanced such that many individuals would prefer to shop for and purchase products through online systems than travel to brick and mortar stores. This preference is based at least in part upon convenience of price comparing without having to travel to a brick and mortar store, convenience of receiving the desired products at the home of the individual, amongst other factors. Typically, when an individual wishes to purchase a product, she will utilize an Internet browser to access a web page corresponding to a retailer. The user will then select a product that is offered for sale by such retailer and provide the retailer with account information, such as a credit card number, a debit card number, etc. to purchase a product. The retailer fulfills the order and ships the product to an address specified by the individual.
In most scenarios, this interaction is mutually beneficial to the consumer and the retailer. That is, the consumer selects the product to purchase and the retailer confirms such purchase and ships the product to the user in a timely manner. In some corporate/franchise business structures, however, this arrangement operates sub-optimally, especially from the perspective of the consumer. In a particular example, a corporation that manufactures automobiles may have several independently operating franchises that are contracted to sell automobiles to consumers. While these franchises can be thought of as independent entities, since they are selling under the brand of the automobile manufacturing corporation their performance as franchises can have an effect on the image of the automobile manufacturer to the general public. Thus, if a franchise treats a consumer improperly, the consumer will have negative feelings toward the automobile manufacturer.
Conventionally, when a consumer wishes to purchase an automobile part from a particular franchise, the consumer picks up the telephone and calls such franchise to place an order for the automobile part. The parts department of the franchise then checks inventory at the franchise to see if the part is available. If the part is available at the franchise, the franchise can commit to fulfilling the order, such that the franchise agrees to provide the consumer with the requested automobile part(s) for an agreed upon price. In some cases, however, the parts department may forget to check inventory or otherwise neglect to commit to fulfilling the order in a timely fashion. Accordingly, the consumer must again call the franchise or begin calling other franchises that may have the desired product in stock. To alleviate some of such difficulties in conventional parts ordering, some automobile franchises have set up e-commerce applications such that consumers can direct an Internet browser to a web page of the automobile franchise and place an order for desired automobile parts through such web page. Even with franchises that have adapted such an e-commerce application, the problem described above with respect to the franchise committing to the order remains. That is, the order is transmitted electronically to the franchise and the franchise must then commit to the order. Oftentimes, franchises fail to commit to order in a timely manner, which again negatively reflects on the automobile manufacturer.